Settlers prepare for long haul

By James Reynolds BBC correspondent in Jerusalem

Settlers are digging in at Gilad Farm near Nablus

Drive up the main road along the north of the West Bank and the outposts are clear to see.

They are clusters of white caravans and trailers on hilltops, often near red-roofed Jewish settlements.

The US-sponsored peace plan known as the roadmap says that around 90 of these outposts - those set up since Ariel Sharon came to power in March 2001 - should be taken down.

The Israeli Government has begun to remove a few of them.

Getting ready

It is starting with the easiest ones - abandoned, empty trailers.

Should we be forced to leave the place we will return immediately, there is no doubt whatsoever that we will remain in these territories Kedumin settlement Mayor Daniella Weiss

So far, it has mostly avoided taking down the manned outposts.

But those who live on the hilltops are getting ready in case their turn comes.

I met religious student Amichai Hadad in his home - a caravan on a hillside near Ramallah.

On his fridge he has pinned up drawings of a Third Jewish Temple, there are pictures of famous rabbis on his walls.

His caravan is one of a dozen which make up the outpost of Givat Assaf.

It is encircled by a barbed wire fence.

Determination to stay

Inside, there are two street signs in bright blue paint, marking out the dusty paths to the caravans.

"If the army takes us away, we will come back," say settlers

Hadad is not concerned that he may have to leave this place.

"If the army comes, I will go, but I will come back, maybe in the night, or the next day or some time after that," he says happily.

It is a thought echoed by many living in outposts across the West Bank.

I went to see those at the Gilad Farm outpost near Nablus.

Last October the army took down the tents and trailers which made up the outpost.

But the settlers simply came back again. Their message is clear - the government cannot force them out for good.

The watchtower

"Should we be forced to leave the place we will return immediately," says Daniella Weiss, the mayor of the nearby settlement of Kedumin.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that we will remain in these territories."

To make sure everyone gets this point, the settlers point to the story of the lone watchtower.

On Monday, the Israeli army went into Ofra to take down the watchtower on the edges of the settlement.

The tower, apparently, counted as an outpost, and amid protests from settlers it came down.

But the next day, a group of settlers simply went and put up a new watchtower, restoring the outpost.

The government's removal effort may have officially begun. But those in the caravans in the rocky West Bank hills are still there.

And they are reacting quickly.